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Catholic News Herald

Serving Christ and Connecting Catholics in Western North Carolina
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CHARLOTTE — Students at Charlotte Catholic High School will have a new opportunity to explore education through the window of Catholic liberal arts beginning with the 2025 school year.

The St. Augustine Scholars Program is a four-year honors pathway that will take students through a classical course of study that will explore philosophy, logic, Latin and primary classical texts.

The inaugural class of freshmen will be admitted to the program in the fall of 2025.

“This program is an interdisciplinary approach in the Catholic liberal arts tradition that integrates knowledge from various fields to form a cohesive, Christ-centered understanding of the world,” said Brian Dorrian, who teaches philosophy at the high school and has been selected to oversee the initiative.

Through the study of subjects such as theology, philosophy, literature, history and the arts, students will receive not only a strong academic foundation, but also learn how each subject reveals different dimensions of truth, he said.

St. Augustine was selected as patron of the new program because of his legacy as “one of the greatest students and teachers in the history of the Church,” Dorrian said.

The program has a four-year structure, with each year building upon the previous, Dorrian said. Each year has a specific theme: The Great Adventure, The Search for Wisdom, The Battle (for spiritual and moral integrity), and The Great Commission.

The program will take students through a classical course of study.

“This structure encourages students to connect their learning across disciplines and see how these themes are relevant in every area of life, from literature to science to the arts,” Dorrian said.

The program was developed as a response to surveys that indicated more parents were seeking a Catholic-based classical education for their children, according to Dr. Greg Monroe, superintendent of the Diocese of Charlotte’s Catholic schools.

“As all of our schools lean further into their Catholic identity across academics, the arts and athletics, it’s exciting to see a program like this where students can go even deeper into their faith through the liberal arts,” Monroe said.

—  Christina Lee Knauss

Learn more

At www.charlottecatholic.org/about-us/st-augustine-scholars-program: Get more information about the new St. Augustine Scholars Program